Free your Mind and find Yourself!

TUNES

Before her surrender she had no life
Now she’s a slave, not a wife
Her only sorrow is for women who live with lies
She’s taken off her disguise

[Manowar]

I do love the song above and it is basically a song that has a lot of meaning to me and Red and it was just perfect for this pictures and post. In general it is not always easy if you have to hide parts of your life even to close friends just because the ‘society’ doesn’t really appreciate or understand them. I am not only talking about BDSM or D/s, but as well as things like a male loves a male, or a female loves a female, or if you have a job that other won’t understand whatever it would be. As well as if kids do not have any label clothing because they do not have a rich family, but do not want anyone to know about that when they go to school or meet other kids. There is many things that people have to hide in all kind of ways to make it through their life. The older I get the less I do want to hide things. They are a part of me and they do make me to what I am now. Even for being a musician, I often had to say I am teaching music or I do work somewhere else and just do music in my free time or on weekends. Over 20 years ago when I started my music career, music wasn’t something that was considered as a job and I often heard “And when you will learn something proper to pay your bills?”. Sure it wasn’t the life of a millionaire, especially in the beginning I had to do a lot of side jobs to make sure my bills got pair and it wasn’t only fun all the time. The longer I followed my personal decision, the better it became and in the end I was able to prove them all wrong and made my life out of music completely and it feels awesome.

Why other people or the so called ‘society’ do think they are allowed to tell one person, what to do and what not to do as long as they do not violate the law? Since when law should be able to dictate who you love, or even worse what gender you love? Just because certain religions and a lot of old fashioned people think that would be right? At school we teach all of our kids, the gifted ones and the non gifted ones that they can do what ever they can imagine in their life and be happy with that… and with that we lie to them already, as so many factors will force them to just do something that is accepted by our ‘society’ somehow. I am not anymore a rebel that only fights against exactly that ‘society’ and tries to break free like people in the 70s already tried – I am too old for that and I am way more critical about certain things these days, even if sometimes my punk breaks free and needs its room as well from time to time 😉

Even in SL when I started modeling, people tried to tell me what I should do and what I should not do and that made me even more angry than in real life. Again, I am always talking about things that do not hurt other people or violate the TOS and the law, I am talking about things like “You can not wear shaved hair and piercings while you are in a gown” or “You can not jump between style categories, hair colors or  wear wings, elf ears and hooves to a casual spring dress!” or “If you blog for this store you should not blog for that store as they do not really like each other!” – WTF!!! This is SL! I can do what ever I please especially on my blog, my pictures or my wardrobe! No one pays me a monthly salary and can dictate my Second Life for that! I can make decisions and like in real life I have to be able to stand behind them even if I can not be everyones darling then, which NEVER works in both lifes anyways on a long term if you do not want to lose yourself. You have value, your life and opinions do have value… in our modern times there is no room for hate about religions, races, nations, other opinions and new inventions or fictions. Our past should have taught us, that we need free spirits to evolve and that hate never brought out any productive. Sometimes we need to know a person before we can judge about them and even if we do we should never try to limit or tell them what they should not do – we should encourage them to tell us about their ideas and ideologies and even if we decide that they are feeling right for us they feel right for them and need to be heard. I do not know, if that makes any sense and I am well aware of that a nation needs rules, traditions and laws to work, but all of that doesn’t give anyone the right to destroy others lifes, or make it miserable, as long as they are not guilty of a heavy crime. I am sick and tired of hearing what would be the best of me, when I can feel that this comments are just made out of jealousy, vindictiveness and power games. I did survive – RL and SL –  with going my way. I did not hurt too many people in my life and those I did hurt, if I realized it I at least had the decency to apologize and see if I could make up for what I did wrong – but you only can do that if you have friends that have the strength and grace to tell you and not just go away and talk bad behind your back. I am grateful, for all of those that stuck to me through both lifes even if I had my moments and arguments with them. They helped me to become what I am now – even if I am still no millionaire, I found luck and satisfaction in my life and as well my place in my life. There are still days, where other people try to shake and rattle my pillars and the principle, sometimes it even still hurts, but they do have a way more difficult task to do as they had to in my past. I am not saying I know everything, or I am done learning in my life… that probably never stops and I am always open minded to what ever crosses my paths, but it isn’t anymore that easy to turn my life upside down and make me question everything I experienced and learned in my life.

Just imagine, what would feel more nice if you meet a new person in your life… to look a them, judge them about their first view and words or just smile, be friendly and see what they to have to say on a second view? They might have solutions for things you did not yet found some… they might have to hide things on your first meeting as they are scared you will judge them and turn around leaving them without even really knowing them, or have given them a chance to show you who they really are? And… just turn it the other way round… how you would feel if you are judged by your cover and not even given a chance to show who you really are?

I would like to close todays post with a quote from an En Vogue song, as I really believe in that every day more, the older I get:

“Before you can read me you gotta learn how to see me, I said
Free your mind and the rest will follow
Be colour blind, don’t be so shallow.”

Clothing

Cape: ERSCH – “Devilish Joy Dress Black” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common)

Harness: OHeMO – “Olivia Body Harness” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Mosquito’s Way – “Britney” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Horns: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Horns Dracarys” – NEW @ Fetish Fair // August 2019

Forearm Sleeves: [CX] – “Lance Bracers Femme – Black” (Maitreya)

Collar: #187# – “Leashed Collar”

Piercings: *PKC* – “BDSM Bento Face Set”

Rings: : CULT :  – “Rou Rings Sset” (Maitreya, Bento)

Nails: FORMANAILS – “Stiletto 1” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: +Spellbound+ – “Control” (part of the BoundBox, no longer avbailable)

Makeup: Zibska – “Noir Pack 06” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: LIVIA – “Juniper Lipstick” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Forehead Tattoo: CURELESS[+] – “Onibi Markings” (Omega Applier)

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Marks: .:Avanti:. – “Rope Marks Applier” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses, Props & Tools

Poses: Foxcity

Set:

Sari-Sari – “Puppet Skybox”

Mushilu – “0005bg Whip and Whispers complete”

BackBone  -“Toy Rack”

{RW} – “Hanging Chain Deco – Pewter”

Fapple – “BDSM Tool Box”

[ zerkalo ] – “Handcuff Chair – Leather”

22769 ~ [bauwerk] – “Leather Whip”

Tool for Face Expressions: LeLutka – “Axis HUD Face 1.1”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

“Insufficient facts always invite danger.” – Mister Spock

“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before”

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Treck: The Next Generation]

I was a Star Treck addicted since I saw the first episodes on TV back when I was a kid. I always was a little dreamer and the idea of having worlds out of reach, that no one yet had explored and either Captain Kirk or Captain Jean-Luc Picard just took us on their journeys to do exactly that, was just amazing. How often we sat, with the family or with friends, together in front of the TV and watched with excitement, what they would find and if it would be good or bad. For my age it first was Captain Jean-Luc Picard. I was about 10 years old when the first season came out on TV and when my mom realized I do love the whole story, she introduced me to the “older Star Treck” episodes with Captain Kirk and Mister Spock. Even if Jean-Luc will be my all time favorite, I did enjoy the older ones too, especially Mister Spock. The idea of having a life with no emotions, can be attractive if you are a very emotional kid and run into problems all the time*snickers*

That addiction to unknown space and fantasy stories did never go away… it did even grow over the time. Nowadays I still love Star Treck but as well all kind of post apocalyptic movies like Resident Evil, Mad Max, Book of Eli and many more. Fantasy or Sci-Fi as well is a genre that I do love a lot. The idea of machines that get some kind of personality like I Robot, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report or Ex Machina as well are an amazing yet dangerous idea… if artificial intelligences decide, that humans are the major problem in the the end – I would not wanna be part of that. What was an interesting movie as well and maybe a future vision of Second Life, was Surrogates. A world, where people never leave home again and just operate machines to do their jobs. When I saw the movie first, I thought it would be a cool idea, but the more I was thinking about that it was a scaring vision to me. I do have a love for such fictions and I am sure a few were part of what inspired me for todays post.

When I saw the “Space 2099” gacha set from Salt & Pepper, I instantly felt the 60s/70s, retro mood of the old Start Trek series. Then I saw, that Ex Machina made a matching scenery to exactly that gacha, there was no way that I would not blog that amazing collaboration. 2 of my favorite designers, collaborating on a sci-fi inspired set – priceless!

The gacha set from Salt & Pepper contains a body, shoes with long leg parts, sleeves and 2 different interactive tools that cooperate with the clothing AND with the matching props and skyebox from Ex Machina!!! While you can have 5 different colors for the clothing you get 3 options of guns. each gun shoots a different color (slime, hexagon glitter, holo swirls), while you can remove all the splashes with the scanner, which as well is part of the gacha. Sadly I found no other person, as I first had the idea of having a pixel fight with someone and colored slime splashes all over, but then I came on a different idea anyways. Maybe I will do some fun with that interactive gacha in the future ;). The VIP prize, a visor with a color HUD to match the clothing colors. The matching gacha from Ex Machina, as well called “Space 2099”, contains various props, a modular tunnel system and a skybox as rare.

For todays post I used the 2 gachas, but as well some other matching designs from Ex Machina. Hatris Panacek recently released some amazing sci-fi items that just were perfect to furnish the skybox. I first made one level with the modular tunnel system and all the gacha props. When I rezzed the skybox, I immediately had the idea of having a laboratory inside of it as a second level of my interstellar home *grins*. Who does not dream of a separated work/life balance *winks*

When I was done and satisfied with the look (I will credit all parts properly in the end of this post) I again came back on my initial idea of foreign spaces and forms of life. That brought up the neat idea with the little dragon , that just was born in my laboratory. First it looked super cute and then it did demonstrate it’s power and I had to run :p

I do love to tell little stories with my pictures and with that amount of items I wanted to showcase, it had to be a few more pictures than usual, but they all went so well together that I did not want to part them for a post.

Again I used the Axis HUD from LeLutka to animate my face. I know there is various face expressions out there at the moment, but I still think, that LeLutka had the most genius idea with that animation HUD. I already did talk about my first steps and tries wit the Axis HUD (HERE), but I seriously cannot stop to tell how amazing that HUD is. you can make expressions completely personalized and to exact purpose you need it. Sometimes I even modify existing expressions (certainly I mostly use the awesome, pre-made expressions from LeLutka as well), if I just want a little tweak and like the general attitude of the expression. If you not yet tried it, you really should. There is as well a demo HUD available where you can test the way how it works at the LeLutka main store.First I wanted to include a gyazo of my LeLutka HUD in action, with all the worked bones, but  with all my excitement about taking pictures… I again forgot to do that. I will try to remember that for the net time, when I have it excessively in use 😉

Clothing

Body: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Space 2099 Body” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Sleeves: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Space 2099 Sleeves” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Shoes: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Space 2099 Boots” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Accessories

Face Implant: Wicca’s Originals – “Edge Implant” – NEW @ Driftwood August 2019

Leg Lights: Normandy – “Leg Implants” (Maitreya)

Nails: [CX] – “Shredder Claws” (Maitreya, Bento)

Heart: NeurolaB Inc. – “Heart Reactor MK-6”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: lock&tuft – “Stranded (woman fit1)”

Lashes: alaskametro<3 – “Slay” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: NOX. – “Incomplete Lip” (Omega Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Head: LeLutka – “Aida 3.3”

Skin: ~Jeanette’s Joint~ – “Android 2.0 Skin and Tattoo” (Omega Applier)

Eyes: CURELESS[+] – “Spookshow Eyes / Dialated”

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Nepthune V2”

Facetattoo: the crone – “flesh shell” (LeLutka & Maitreya Applier)

Metal Tattoo: *YS&YS* – Pris Tone ELF” (LeLutka & Omega Applier)

Poses, Props & Tools

Poses: Poseidon

Set 1 (pictures 2 & 3):

Ex Machina – “Space 2099 SkyRoom” (Gacha, Rare) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Ex Machina – “THX Sci Fi Botanical Lab”

Ex Machina – “THX Sci Fi set” (Console, Cannister, Crate)

Ex Machina – “THX Sci Fi set 2” (Vertical Console, Suspension Pod)

Ex Machina – “Advanced Teleporter Pod v1.5”

lassitude & ennui – “Dragon whelp – mystic” (Gacha, Rare)

Set 2 (pictures 1, 4 & 5)

Ex Machina – “Space 2099 Corridor Ending A” (Gacha, Common) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Ex Machina – “Space 2099 Corridor Ending B” (Gacha, Common) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Ex Machina – “Space 2099 Corridor” (Gacha, Common) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Ex Machina – “Space 2099 Intersection” (Gacha, Common) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Ex Machina – “Space 2099 Crate 1-3 Black & Teal” (Gacha, Commons) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Ex Machina – “Space 2099 Power Washer – Black & Teal” (Gacha, Commons) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Ex Machina – “Space 2099 Sign 1-3 Black” (Gacha, Commons) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Ex Machina – “Space 2099 Info Center – Teal” (Gacha, Common) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Ex Machina – “Space 2099 teleporter” (Gacha, VIP prize) – NEW @ Epiphany July 2019

Ex Machina – “Planetary Holographic Scanner”

Tool: LeLutka – “Axis HUD Face 1.1”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

 

Demons in my Mind…

TUNES

Tell you all the things that are tearing me apart
Tell you every little thing thats been bleeding out my heart
Nothing that I say can make you change your mind so doesnt matter
What I do it doesnt matter where I start
Yeah ive been feeling down
No ones been around
My mind is foggy
I can’t tell you what is left or right
No matter what i say you always find a fucking way to twirl it
Demons in my mind they never listen

[plxntkid]

The nice part of having holidays is you have more time to fool around with things you always wanted to learn before. For me that is watching a lot of new tutorials for Photoshop and trying if I can use what I learned in my own ways on my pictures. Even if it takes a lot longer to try new skills and techniques, it is a lot of fun, too.

Today I wanted to do something editorial and I wanted to involve the incredible amazing designs of Zibska. When I put on the “Ruina” collar and makeup, I instantly knew, that I do not want too much things in the background that would distract from the design itself. The collar has 2 orbits with  with fishies and hooks which I am not wearing for my todays picture as it added too much cuteness for my idea*giggles* While I was standing in my black spot and fooling around with lights I realized how cool the “Ruina” collar does reflect the lights and I just rezzed one, pulled it super huge trying t see what it would look like… like you can see on the pictures, I loved the idea :p I even stretched it a little more, rezzed another one, shoved them around and finally played with the color HUD. That again proves, that Zib Scaggs is truly an artist, you even can use her creations totally out of purpose and still they add an artful touch to your picture 😉 For a matching expression to that powerful picture, I again used my Axis HUD from LeLutka. I already wrote about that (HERE), but I just cannot tell it often enough, that it does open a complete new world for me for pictures with some kind of mood or emotions 😉

Clothing

Pants: Decoy – “Apple Shorts” (Maitreya)

Shoes: **UTOPIA@Design** – “Kora” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Rings: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Morphine Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)

Claws: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Obsess Claws” (Maitreya, Bento)

Shoulderpiece: Zibska – “Ruina” – NEW @ Driftwood August 2019 – NEW @ Driftwood August 2019

Collar: [CX] – “Hells Harbinger (Black Out+Silver)” (Maitreya)

Lower Armparts: [CX] – “Lance Bracers Femme – Black” (Maitreya)

Mask: L’Emporio – “Cat Skull – 03 Lather Covered”

Arm Straps: L’Emporio – “Harness Arm” (Maitreya)

Pasties: .ARISE. – “Spiked Pasties / Black_Silver” (Maitreya)

Chains: -SECRETS- – “Danita Nipple Chain – Silver” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: KoKoLoResS – “Oakes”

Makeup: Zibska – “Ruina” (LeLutka Applier) – NEW @ Driftwood August 2019

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – “London” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “Lost River” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon

Background Structures: Zibska – “Ruina” – NEW @ Driftwood August 2019 (rezzed and resized)

Model  & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

A little Midnight Snack?

Talk about her like a Queen
Dancing in a Eastern Dream
Yeah, she makes me feel like a river
That carries me away

[Deep Purple]

The eastern Asian culture always was very interesting to me. It has a great feeling of elegance, mystic and as well a high traditional one. I rarely dare to touch that kind of style, as I am not too familiar with it and I do not wanna hurt anyones feelings. Sometimes I do feel the desire to try and when I found that cute Octopus gacha from ::Static:: called “Octopet Prize” I could not resist to combine that with the try of a Japanese look, in a way how I would imagine it. I have no idea why, but when I was holding that little bag with the pet in my hands I had the strange feeling, that I just had bought my dinner… I know a little morbid but sometimes my brain does those funny jumps *giggles*

So I was looking in my inventory for something that could go with that idea and found a sweet short Kimono from Luas, which is quite naughty as you can see the bits above the seam. I did not want that kind of look for my todays pictures, so I added a bra from Blacklace and a cool tattoo to cover that lightly :p

First I thought about making a set by my own, but I do not really own many Asian things so I decided to take a look what comes up in search if I type “Tokyo”. After trying some places I found a really cool sim called “Rieri Town in Tokyo” and they had a super cool mall with some food shops and that was exactly what I had in mind 🙂

Today I am again wearing my “Simone 3.3” bento head from LeLutka. Seriously, those heads never stop to amaze me in terms of versatility. When I did put on the “Geisha” makeup from ALMA, and tweaked my shape lightly, I immediately got an Asian touch to my face. Usually I never wear any eyebrows, that became kind of a trademark over the past years, but sometimes I cannot resist to wear some penciled eyebrows, especially, if I decide to tint my hair dark or even black.

Maybe I should dig more into that kind of style, as I really do like the look and the mystic feelings that are attached to that. Plus I really should explore more again and find some new awesome photo places for future pictures 🙂

Clothing

Dress: Luas – “Mei Xing” (Maitreya)

Bra: Blacklace – “Niki Red Leather & Lace Set” (Omega Applier)

Shoes: MOMOCHUU – “Hoshi – Stocking +Geta Red” (Gacha)

Accessories

Headpiece: [CX] – “Sai Kanzashi”

Rings & Nails: Pure Poison – “Victoria”

Animals: ::Static::– “Octopet Prize” (Gacha)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Further”

Makeup: ALMA – “Geisha”

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: HoTINK – “Geisha” (Maitreya Applier)

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Akasuna”

Eyes: ARISE – “Haya Eyes”

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Location

SSOS – Rieri Town in Tokyo

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Cyber Games

I immensely enjoy the CyberPunk Fair 🙂 Sadly today is the last chance for this amazing event 🙁

There are so many amazing creations and designs, that it is really hard to choose, with what you wanna start making pictures. Today I decided to go with the awesome “Tiera” hair from EMO-tions, the cool “Cyberdeck” from UNGOD and one of the latest releases from A&Y, the “Aeon Cyber Top” paired with the “Aeon Cyber Corset”.
I was experimenting so much with teal and orange lately with all the great cyber items, so today I wanted to have another color palette – Purple and Blue was the choice of the day 🙂

When I was done styling, I faced the same problem like always… find the perfect location for the pictures. First I went to Cocoon, a new and super awesome cyber sim, but I quickly realized I need something different. Then I suddenly remembered, that there was a mega cool gacha at the CyberPunk Fair, that as well was based on purple colors. The K&S “Neon Night Mood” The whole set is made with such amazing love for the details – even the shadows! You can use the set as a full one, but as well the single parts of it and it doesn’t matter if you miss a piece it still looks amazing.

For todays poses I went with the “Akali” set from Poseidon and one special pose, which was made for the advert of the “Cyberdeck”- Gryphon Vedetta, owner and designer of Poseidon and UNGOD was so kind to give it to me 🙂 Even if the poses were not made for the “Cyberdeck” they just were perfectly matching for my pictures 😉

The head I am wearing today, again the the “Simone” head from LeLutka. As I told you before, I will try to show the different heads with all kind of different skins, to show how versatile they are and how different they can look. With the “Kialaya” skin from Lumae, “Simone” gets a way younger look than the one I use to have. You can see as well how different nose and mouth do look with different skins 😉 So you can customize your face not only with the sliders, but with a certain skin too.

Clothing

Jacket: A&Y – “Aeon Cyber Top” (Maitreya)

Top: A&Y – “Aeon Cyber Corset” (Maitreya)

Panties: A&Y “Siren Cyber Panties” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Wicca’s Originals – “Michonne” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Headset: {Psycho:Byts} – “N.i.x – N.i.g.t.h Headset Black” (Gacha) – NEW @ CyberPunk Fair // May 2019

Nails & Rings: [CX] – “Shredder Claws” (Maitreya)

Cyberdeck: UNGOD – “Cyberdeck Grunge Blue” – NEW @ CyberPunk Fair // May 2019

Hair & Makeup

Hair: EMO-tions – “Tiera” – NEW @ CyberPunk Fair // May 2019

Lipstick: NOX. – “Incomplete Lip” (Omega Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: Lumae Fantasy – “Kialaya Tone” (LeLutka & Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon – “Akali Set” (Bento)

Set: K&S – “// Night Neon Mood //” (Gacha) – NEW @ CyberPunk Fair // May 2019

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Tokyo after Dark

Being still in my dark period, I was in a dark casual mood today 😉

I love the “VoDoo” ears so much, I had to do another post with them. I am not a fan of elf ears for everyday looks but sometimes – for what ever reason – I love them not just for a fantasy style.

Today I wanted to showcase one of Ex Machina’s awesome buildings. I rarely saw better structures that are made with more love for the details, than the designs from Hatris Panacek, owner and designer of Ex Machina. It is no secret , that I adore her work, otherwise we never would have asked her to make a custom built store building and most of it’s interior for us. Hattie has amazing skills when it comes to building and as well to texturing. She works so hard to get her realistic looking surfaces done and it pays of every time she does a new release. The “Tokyo after Dark” building is one of her latest creations. On her vendor she states, that his is the first in a set of urban, Japanese, cyberpunk styled buildings. That mean for me we can hope on more of those, which would make me super duper happy, because I LOVE that kind of style 😉

For my pictures I used 2 of the buildings and the amazing street components she delivers with the building. I just turned one of the buildings 90 degrees, so I could showcase the front and the backside as well – I really loved the stair case in the back a lot. I snapped over 10 pictures and I liked all of them. Making a decision was really not easy this time. When I started I just wanted to showcase the amazing “VoDoo” ears and the awesome “Tokyo after Dark” building. But the more I was fooling around with a style the more I got my vibe for that dark urban look. I used the amazing “Bella Leather Pants” from [Gos]. I already blogged those before, but in a more sweet casual style and I wanted to try if they do work for some more dark looks as well – They do!

What as well caught my attention a lot was the new tattoo from Mister Razzor. I love when tattoos go up till parts of the head, but not many are really seamless. The “Dante” tattoo, which was released at the Black Fair not too long ago, did not disappoint in that matter 🙂

Again I am wearing my everyday head from LeLutka. I know the “Simone” bento head was one of the first heads, that LeLutka released when the new bento generation of heads came out, but it is still my absolute favorite one, even if I more and more enjoy the new Korina head as well *winks*

The “Simone” head with a skin from the Skinnery became kinda my trademark. When I first put on the “Simone” head, I wasn’t really sold on the first try, as it looked very young with the default skin from Glam Affair. Since I am in Second Life now for over 10 years I wanted a more adult look for my pixels. I did a lot of things and I did grow up lightly too during my Second Life journey. That I wanted to mirror with my avatar as well. I remember very well the moment when I put on “my” skin. As models we all had quite some trouble when the first mesh heads came out and we all looked the same more or less, while we were told ALWAYS, tht our face would be our trademark in the modeling business. But the bento generation changed that “issues” pretty fast, when we were able again to at least customize our heads a little more again. From that moment on I was in love with my “Simone” head. I tried all the new bento heads from various brands but none was able to satisfy my needs as LeLutka did. What I do love the most on the “Simone” head (and as well on the Korina one), that it is not the usual mainstream beauty. It does have edges and give – depending on the skin – a very characteristic look. With my Skinnery skin and some face modifications from Izzie’s, I was completely sold with my new look and never really changed it drastically again – just some minor shape and other changes here and there 😉

Clothing

Top: [CX] – “Mucronate Top – Leather” (Maitreya)

Pants: [Gos] – “Bella Leather Pants & Belt” (Maitreya)

Shoes & Leggings: Eudora 3D – “Aerendyl Boots” (Maitreya)

Gloves: Wicca’s Originals – “Roadie Gloves” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Glasses: BONDI – “The Extrovert Sunglasses”

Collar: VOBE – “Stzar Prision Choker”

Piercing: [CX] – “Drop Septum”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Dura – “Collaboration02_Bob2” (Gacha, Common)

Makeup: Zibska – “Noir Pack 06” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – London” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. (Eclipse Art Studio) – “Ears VoDoo”

Tattoo: Mister Razzor – “Dante” (OMEGA Applier)

Poses & Props

Set: Ex Machina – “Tokyo after Dark – The iKON”

Poses: Foxcity

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Dark Fantasy is just another way of saying Horror ;)

Dark Fantasy is just another way of saying Horror.

[Terry Pratchett]

Cyber & Sci-fi time again!

There is so many exciting events running at the moment, it is really hard to resist to not buy everything you see at those events… Especially if it is events like Black Fair, Epiphany, ACCESS or The Fantasy Faire even.

A few things I got nevertheless and they screamed cyberpunk/sci-fi for me 😉 I am still in my dark period with creating styles and pictures and the more I do, the more I enjoy it 🙂 With the dark and fantasy side of SL, I feel so much inspiration lately that I could post something every day if I would have the time to post process all my pictures. But since I wanted to use my easter holidays for learning new tricks in Photoshop, finishing pictures takes some time – even a little more with try and error these days *winks* The desire was to learn more about shading, lights and shadows and how they can be done realistic in Photoshop. I had some basic knowledge about that with a lot of layers, but I wanted to have a different result, something I saw a lot on flickr lately and that was why I forced myself to watch some tutorials and then try them instantly myself. I am not yet done completely with my research, but for today I was pretty satisfied how those new tips and ticks worked out.

The mega, amazing “Aeon Cyber Corset” is one of the latest releases from A&Y. I love the creations of Anabel Crystal, owner and designer of A&Y. She has a very special way for sci-fi and cyberpunk creations and I do love her skills for vinyl and leather clothing. The corset you can find at the actual round of the ACCESS event, while there is a matching top/jacket at the black fair, which I will have to showcase soon too (I saw that after I finished my styling for this post already).

The incredible “Voodoo” ears are as well a brand new release at the Black Fair. I love the ears of Eclipse Art Studio and Shina Shan never stop to amaze me with every new release. She always has another cool idea for the accessories of her ears. This time it was that little voodoo doll, that she added to the earlobes as an earring. The voodoo doll can be purchased as a single earring as well if you do not want to have the long elf ears ;). I love how easy you can tint the ears to match your skin and the possibility of all the tattoos you can add really make those ears so versatile.

For a strong, powerful outfit you need super cool boots and those I found with the “Roxy” boots from [Gos]. The boots are part of a gacha, which is a collaboration of [Gos ] and Lybra. I will have a post for that gacha and all of it’s beauty soon – the boots just matched so awesome with my look, that I could not resist to already use them *blushes* The thigh high boots are super tight and have an amazing laced back. Certainly there are more colors available than just black in the gacha 😉

For the location I was trying first to set up something by myself, but this time I did not wanna come together as I desired it and so I made may way out to see if I could find a cyberpunk sim for my pictures. First I tried Cocoon, which is amazingly built but for non group members you have no rez rights and I wanted to use my pose stand this time. I need to go back another time as they really do have amazing spots for pictures and the sim rules even allow photographers as long as you wear an OOC titler, which you can find at the landing spot.

I did remember, that Insilico had rezzing open at least for rezzing a pose stand top hop on. The auto-return kicks in after a few minutes, but as long as you sit on your stand, you are safe. Just do not get scared when you are done and stand up as the stand will be returned to your lost and found folder.

After I could not decide about a perfect spot and had shot some random snaps, I did remember a few backdrops, that I got as a present from a friend not too long ago. The whole gacha set is amazing and I hope, I can find/win the ones I still miss in my collection. The “Cyberpunk Capsule *7*” was the perfect background for my look.

Clothing

Corset: A&Y  – “Aeon Cyber Corset” (Maitreya – NEW @ ACCESS Event // April 2019

Panties: A&Y – “Loma Leather Panties” (Maitreya, Gacha)

Shoes: [Gos] – “Roxy Boots” (Maitreya, Gacha) – NEW @ Epiphany // April 2019

Gloves: Wicca’s Originals – “Paxton Gloves [Light]” (Maitreya, Bento)

Accessories

Collar: [CX] – “Hell’s Harbinger” (Maitreya)

Piercing 1: [CX] – “Scarred Bridge”

Piercing 2: [CX] – “Spiked Gloss”

Earring+Chain: [CX] – “Vermin”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: A&Y – “Cyber Ghost Hair”

Makeup & Lipstick: YS&YS – “Ginny Skin Applier” (LeLutka Applier)

Face Art: ALMA – “Rors for L’Homme” (LeLutka Applier, Gift)

Body & Tattoos

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Ears Voodoo” – NEW @ Black Fair // April-May 2019

Eyes: Clemmm – “I’m tired / Black-Regular”

Skin: YS&YS – “Ginny – Tone Zafiro” (LeLutka & Maitreya Applier)

Tattoo: .:AuricA:. – “Saida Tattoo” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon

Backdrop: MINIMAL – “Cyberpunk Capsule *7*” (Gacha)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Jackie Skellington – A Tribute to Tim Burton

I’ve always been addicted to Tim Burton movies. Anyways if it was Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow or Sweeney Todd I do love them all and I saw them and all the others more than once! But I do love the most the “A Nightmare before Christmas” and the “Corpse Bride”. When I saw “A Nightmare before Christmas” the first time I instantly fell in love with Jack Skellington. I even had merchandising stuffs for my study equipment, bed linen and other stuffs in my room like poster and such. I do not why that clicked so bad but it did 😉 So I was so surprised when I was at CURELESS [+] and saw the Christmas Nightmare gacha – How I could miss that one?!? Certainly I had to have that no need to mention I never saw a more cool version for a female counter part of Jack Skellington.

It is hard to explain sometimes that you are not in a bad or dangerous mood if you do dark pictures. I know it might be more common to do colorful country side pictures in SL, but I discover more and more that SL has a dark, artistic fashion corner as well and the more I try the more I really do love it. When I was trained as a model or blogger in the past, people did not approve my styles or pictures to much – not because they were bad quality, more because they were not norm or mainstream conform. Back in the days when I started it was important to have at least more than 50% mainstream and RL fashion trends covered somehow, but the longer I was blogging the more I developed a feeling away from deadline duties and so called “rules” to follow. I wanted more freedom to express myself, to experiment with more than just fashion and I was sick and tired of all the same pictures over and over, without soul but only fashion information stuffed.

So I asked to be released off my blogger duties years ago and left blogger or sponsor groups, to have a fresh start and re-invent myself and my blogging/photography. For quite a while I did pictures without any sponsored designs and not for the purpose of design showcase only. I have to admit at that time it was needed to develop my picture skills and as well my blogging abilities. I thought a lot about what I felt and what I want to express, which I never did that intensive before. Before it was all about how many sponsors I can combine without looking like a clown, but still satisfy as many people and designers as I can with every post I did. It wasn’t bad all the time, but it is a different motivation and focus. Over the past 10 years of blogging, there was times where my pictures changed lightly, but most of the time they were sponsor focused only. After some time you feel a kinda burn out syndrome and past fun turns into work only.. and that killed my motivation at some point. I needed “fresh thoughts” if that makes sense. Pulling back was the right thing for me to do. For the past 1,5 years I started again to apply or take on sponsors/blogger duties, but not as many as I had before. I tried to not have just fashion pictures, I challenged myself to combine fashion with artsy touches and as well with feelings and emotions and sometimes even with a story behind the pictures. That as well made the decision easy, to not have one picture and a style card only, but to have a little picture series and sometimes a little story behind them, too.

I really got a whole new, different point of view about my blogging and the pictures. I still try to do showcases for designers and present their creations in the best light, but as well I try to bring my own twist and emotions – sometimes a little art as well – into the whole process 🙂 It brought back the fun for SL blogging and SL photography to me again and that I guess is all that matters… at least for me 😉

Clothing

Outfit: CURELESS [+] – “Christmas Nightmare / Skeleton Suit” (Maitreya, Gacha, Rare)

Shoes: CURELESS [+] – “Christmas Nightmare / Spiral Plats / Black” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common)

Socks: CURELESS [+] – “Christmas Nightmare / Vamp Stockings / Black” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common)

Accessories

Animal: CURELESS [+] – “Christmas Nightmare /Ghost Puppy / White” (Gacha, Common)

Nails: [CX] – “Essential Dirty Claws” (Maitreya, Bento, Group Gift)

Hair & Makeup

Hair & Hat: no.match – “No.Scary”

Faceart: CURELESS [+] – “Psychopomp Face” (OMEGA Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Teeth: LeLutka – “Beast Teeth 1.1”

Eyes: Clemmm – “I’m Tired / Black – Regular” (tinted darker)

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: YS&YS – “Immortal Skin” (Maitreya & LeLutka Applier)

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thauron”

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Set:

:CP: – “Burton Tea Chair Striped”

:CP: – “Burton Rug”

:CP: – “Burton Tea Table”

:CP: – “Burton Tea Chandelier”

:CP: – “Burton Tea Cake Plate”

:CP: – “Burton Art – Arched Cat”

:CP: – “Burton Art – Pumpkin”

:CP: – “Burton Art – Hoot”

22769 – “Tentacle Wallart” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Limp Bookshelf Left” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Limp Bookshelf Right” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Tims Teddy Bear” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Tims Plant Black And White” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “This is Halloween” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Twisted Candle Holder” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Tea with Tim” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Jester Console” (Gacha, Common)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Did you really think that would stop me?

Today I only wanted to do a teaser picture for our “Scratch Me Gloves” but in the end I had way to much fun playing with the look and poses and so I ended up doing pictures for a full post. I guess I am in a dark period again for doing pictures and I really do enjoy it. Before I get asked again… Yes I am ok and am feeling good. Just sometimes I do like my dark side and when it comes I have to let it out before it gets me completely 😉 Maybe that is my very own way to deal with such situations, but for me it works.

Again I have to say, for all my dark and scary visions  LOVE the poses from Poseidon. He has his very own way to make poses. Most of the time you can see it on pictures on the first view of the poses are from Gryphon Vendetta – owner and designer of Poseidon and UNGOD. The poses show motion, character and emotions and mostly they do have a strong attitude as well and are made for a certain purpose. You won’t find usual ‘standing’ poses at his store, which I do really enjoy. Each of his sets are an inspiration for pictures to me. He started a while ago to make props for his poses as well and lately he even started to make his own mesh, which I soon will have here on my blog as well – I already god some goodies 😉

When I styled up to just make a picture for our “Scratch Me Gloves”, which are for sale at the “Eclipse – October never dies!” event, I had one of those moments where the style kinda built up itself with each piece I put on and in the end it looked so cool that I thought it would be a shame not to post it *giggles* So here goes my result of having way too much fun again :p

Clothing

Outfit: Meva – “Sophie” (Maitreya)

Gloves: Wicca’s Originals – “Scratch me Gloves – Dark” (Maitreya – Bento) – NEW @ Eclipse – October never dies! // March 2019

Stockings: .:Avanti:. – “Harlot Stockings” (OMEGA Applier)

Shoes: UTOPIA@Design – “Rachel” (Maitreya) – NEW @ UBER // March/April 2019

Accessories

Collar: [CX] – “Hell’s Harbinger” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Friend” – NEW @ Cosmopolitan Event // March 2019

Face Art: THIS IS WRONG – “Moloch Makeup” (LeLutka applier) – NEW @ Eclipse – October never dies! // March 2019

Lipstick: je suis… – “LeLutka ips no. 006” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Eyes: Clemmm – “Irritated Eyes Dark Grey”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: THIS IS WRONG – “Molochy Tattoo” (Maitreya Applier) – NEW @ Eclipse – October never dies! // March 2019

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon

Backdrop: anxiety – “formaldehyde”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Dark Vision

Have you run your fingers down the wall
And have you felt your neck skin crawl
When you’re searching for the light?
Sometimes when you’re scared to take a look
At the corner of the room
You’ve sensed that something’s watching you
[Iron Maiden]

Challenge Today: Combine Sweet Shoes with a Bow and Scary Gloves with Teeth & Tongue!

Lately I do have a lot of fun to give myself little ‘challenges’ for my styles and trying to complete the task. I thought about a way, how I can re invent my view on my blogging pictures. Certainly we do have our ‘duties’ too with deadlines and blogging rules, but I do not wanna see it just as a job. I realized if I just do pictures without any special thoughts behind them they start looking the same. I do not want to have the same look over and over again and those little challenges as well remind me what I do have in my inventory. After 10 years of blogging, you easily can loose track of what you have, but with little challenges and the fact that you force yourself to not just buy new accessories, but use what you already got, it really gets an interesting aspect again. Plus it has another great advantage, you stumble over things you would never wear again, as they are outdated or used too often already and you can just delete those and make room for new stuff 😉
Actually todays challenge was a fun one, as I really could go crazy again. Do you know that, if you got something because you liked  it and then you have no clue what you can do with it? That was what happened to me with the cool “Koronay Veil” from cinphul. I saw it and thought I need to have that and then I was sitting and staring at it a little frustrated, as nothing wanted to come to my mind besides that I love it. Sometimes you have to put things aside until they talk to you 😉 This happened today while I was trying to combine those awesome, sweet “Desir Stilettos” from Poison Rouge and the kick ass, uber cool “Voracity Gloves” from Cubic Cherry. I do have an addiction to scary, dark stuffs – and that felt like it could go directly into that direction.
As you can see.. it did :p

Clothing

Top/ Headpiece: cinphul – “Koronary Veil” (Maitreya)

Pasties: Moon Elixir – “Gothique Onyx Pasties” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common)

Panty: [CX] – “Pantsu Codex” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Eclipse – October never dies! \\ March 2019

Gloves: [Cubic Cherry] – “Voracity Gloves” (Maitreya, Bento)  – NEW @ Eclipse – October never dies! \\ March 2019

Shoes: Poison Rouge – “Desir Stilettos with Bow” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Wings, Halo & Horns: C L A Vv. – “Shattered Angel” (Gacha)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Entwined – “Jana”

Faceart: THIS IS WRONG – “Nightmare” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Black Lipstick” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tatoo: THIS IS WRONG – “Nightmare” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Background: :Fanatik Architecture: – “Lake Chamber PG”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin